Nichole June Maher, Aleesha Towns-Bain and Kevin Walker on 13 Years of the Philanthropy Northwest Board's Racial Equity Journey

Can we talk about...? A podcast on leading for racial equity in philanthropy

Philanthropy Northwest’s current and two preceding Board Chairs – Nichole June Maher, Aleesha Towns-Bain and Kevin Walker – kick off our pilot season on racial equity work at the governance level, stitching together memories across 13 years of the Philanthropy Northwest board’s racial equity journey.

Together they reflect on where the board was in 2010 – predominantly white and male, without an explicit commitment to centering racial equity – and where it is today in 2023, with 13 of the 18 directors being people of color, an explicit and unanimous commitment to centering racial equity, and on a journey to explore of how best to live into this commitment.
They provide a transparent account of challenging moments and lessons learned along the way, emphasizing the importance of identifying and shifting the unwritten rules of boards that perpetuate exclusive practices and disproportionately harm board members of color. They also celebrate how over time, the board shifted from a culture that shied away from conflict towards one that embraced disagreement. “That was a really powerful growth period for the board,” Aleesha shares.